Kalispell City Council is mulling over the Northwest Montana History Museum’s request to acquire the Central School building.  

A handful of museum representatives congregated in Council chambers on Monday evening to listen to the deliberations, with some councilors worried about the risk of relinquishing the historic city-owned property. 

The municipality has leased the brick and stone building at 124 Second Ave. E. to the nonprofit since 1997, but the agreement has made it difficult to raise money from private donors and apply to funding programs, according to museum leadership. 

The roughly 130-year-old building, Kalispell’s first permanent school, requires upgrades, said A.J. King, a member of the museum board. Improvements like a climate-controlled archival storage space and repairs like fixing water drainage in the basement are needed for the museum to operate effectively.  

“A large investment into the building does not make financial sense unless the city were to grant us over ownership,” King told Council.  

Programs to fund maintenance projects are more difficult to enroll in when the property is leased, he said.  

“We have a heck of a problem with the heating and cooling system right now,” he said. “If you’re the owner you can take advantage of these programs at a very low rate.” 

When Councilor Sandy Carlson asked whether private donors were more inclined to donate to a nonprofit entity than city-owned property, the group of museum representatives present all nodded their heads.  

Councilor Ryan Hunter floated the idea of conditioning the transfer of ownership on the requirement that the building remain a museum under nonprofit status. He worried that if the museum ran into financial trouble the building could fall into private hands — and a future Council might have no interest in buying back the property.   

Mayor Mark Johnson responded that the possibility would have to be dealt with by future councilors. The current Council should avoid hindering museum operations by retaining ownership, he said.  

“I guess it boils down to, does this Council feel like we’re comfortable enough giving the deed to the museum, or do we, for whatever reason, want to retain that deed?” Johnson said.  

Councilors Sandy Carlson, Jed Fisher, Sam Nunnally and Sid Daoud supported handing over the deed wholeheartedly. Governments should own as little property as possible, Daoud said.   

Museum Executive Director Margaret Davis said that the building has seen an uptick in visitation over the years. About 10,000 visitors passed through its doors last year. 

 “That was a milestone for us,” she said.  

Of that figure, 1,700 were children and another 1,000 were third graders enrolled in the McLaren 1895 Classroom program.    

The museum also hosts over 140 events a year, including book clubs, celebrations of life, concerts, rehearsals and community meetings. The museum has housed over 130 exhibits since opening its doors in 1999, “and 50,000-plus items in the collection that we hold for the public good,” Davis said.  

“We are an active part of the economy and culture,” she said. 

Council is expected to hear a legal opinion on the ownership request at a future work session. Council also wants to get more information about the possibility of subdividing out the green space in front of the building and the parking lot to the north.  

COUNCIL ALSO appeared in favor of changing the name of the Kidsports Youth Athletic Complex to honor Dan Johns, one of its key founders.  

Roy Beekman, a board member with Kidsports, the nonprofit that runs the fields, has been the leading voice for the name change.  

“I do not believe that we would have the facility that we have presently, if it wasn’t for his efforts,” Beekman said. 

Kalispell entered into a lease agreement with the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in 1997, designating 138 acres for youth athletic fields. The city and Kidsports then formed a public-private partnership, with the city agreeing to put money into initial construction and splitting maintenance costs.  

Johns was an influential figure throughout the complex’s inception, Beekman said.  

“It was his whole life for a while,” he said. 

Johnson supported the name change request. The mayor said he coached baseball with Johns for a few years “and his heart was in that field." 

While a new name wasn’t set in stone, City Manager Doug Russell said City Hall is considering calling it the Dan Johns Kalispell Youth Athletic Complex. 

While Fisher supported honoring Johns in the complex’s name, he urged Council to consider a specific name change policy to avoid opening the floodgates. 

Fisher said that in his 30 years directing the Flathead County Parks and Recreation Department, he routinely fielded requests from people wanting to see their names adorned on public property.  

While Beekman’s request was worthy, Fisher suggested developing guidelines to avoid constantly altering the names of parks or other public properties or pitting requests against each other.  

A resolution will eventually go before Council to formally approve the name change.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and [email protected].